Indiana Supreme Court denies requests to stop execution of Joseph E. Corcoran
This story has been updated with new information.
Barring any action from Gov. Eric Holcomb or a swift federal court ruling, Indiana is poised to carry out the execution of death row inmate Joseph E. Corcoran, the first state prisoner to be put to death in 15 years.
The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday denied requests from Corcoran's attorneys to stop his execution, which is scheduled to be carried out before sunrise on Dec. 18 at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Corcoran's attorneys had asked the state's highest court to halt the execution — which would be the first of a state prisoner since 2009 — arguing the convicted killer's lifelong struggles with mental health problems, including paranoid schizophrenia, have rendered him incapable of understanding the reality of his situation and the punishment he is about to face.
Joanna Green, an Indiana State deputy public defender and one of Corcoran's attorneys, said the ruling is disappointing and shows that "Indiana endorses executing the insane and the seriously mentally ill."
"Without a hearing or further examination, the court seemingly determined our client is competent to be executed," Green said. "The court has not afforded Mr. Corcoran even a modicum of due process. The evidence as presented to the court shows Mr. Corcoran is not competent."
The five justices are divided in their decision, with Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff dissenting. The justices have not issued an opinion explaining their reasoning.
In a statement, the Indiana Attorney General's Office said: "This case has worked its way through our justice system for decades. With the Indiana Supreme Court's latest decision the execution date remains on schedule. We're doing our duty — on behalf of the victims and the law-abiding public — to hold perpetrators like Joseph Corcoran accountable for their horrific actions."
But the legal fight has not ended.
Green said Corcoran's legal team plans to ask the federal court to review one of their claims: that executing Corcoran violates the Constitution because he is insane.
State Rep. Robert Morris, a Republican who represents Fort Wayne — where Corcoran was convicted — has also asked Holcomb to delay all the executions of inmates on death row until the legislature has considered whether or not to abolish the death penalty. Morris, who plans to introduce legislation next session, said in a letter to Holcomb that his opposition to the death penalty is partly driven by faith and his belief that "all life" deserves protection.
The death penalty, carried out in the name of citizens, "unnecessarily involves those who oppose capital punishment on religious grounds" and has no impact on public safety, Morris wrote in the letter.
"One man has no moral right to execute another man who is already subdued, convicted, and safely confined," Morris wrote.
Corcoran, of Allen County, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for shooting and killing four people, including his own brother. Court documents say he became enraged when he heard the four talking about him. After putting his 7-year-old niece in an upstairs bedroom, Corcoran loaded his semiautomatic rifle and shot the victims. He then put his rifle down, went to the neighbor's house and asked them to call the police.
Seven other inmates are on Indiana's death row.
Delusions of torture or falsehoods?
Corcoran's attorneys have pointed to his delusions that Indiana Department of Correction officers are torturing him using an ultrasound machine. Corcoran wrote at length about this so-called "electronic harassment" in a book he penned under the pseudonym J.C. Chase. The book was published in September.
Corcoran also falsely believes he has a sleep disorder, Green said.
"Mr. Corcoran's paranoid schizophrenia completely removes him from reality," his attorneys argued in motions asking the Supreme Court to stop the execution. "He cannot distinguish between reality and his delusions and hallucinations — his delusions are his reality. And because his reality is informed by his delusions and hallucinations, he is incapable of rational thought."
But the heart of Corcoran's case — whether he's mentally competent to be executed — has never been fully litigated in court, Green said. And the question of his competency to stand trial in 1999 was not appropriately addressed because Corcoran's attorneys at that time did not get an accurate diagnosis until after he was convicted.
Three mental health experts examined Corcoran before his trial. Two of them concluded he was competent after short evaluations, Green said. The third expert recommended that Corcoran be placed in a psychiatric facility, where doctors can examine whether he was having psychosis. The judge in that case, Allen Superior Court Judge Frances Gull, ultimately found Corcoran competent to stand trial. A fourth doctor hired by Corcoran's attorneys diagnosed him with schizotypal personal disorder but also found him competent.
But another psychiatrist who evaluated Corcoran before his sentencing hearing diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and concluded he's mentally incompetent. Green argued that Dr. Philip Coons' diagnosis was the correct one and was most reflective of Corcoran's mental state around the time of his trial.
Mark Thoma, one of Corcoran's attorneys at that time, wrote in an affidavit that they would've requested a competency hearing had they'd been able to secure Coons' testimony in time for the trial. Coons' findings, Thoma wrote, helped them understand Corcoran's illogical decisions, including rejecting a plea offer that would've saved his life.
Green said that throughout the appeals process, Corcoran's mental illness has caused him to make decisions that are against his best interest. He has sought to waive all of his appeals and has repeatedly expressed his desire to be executed.
"We don't believe that Joe is competent because his delusions go to the heart of his decision-making ability," Green said. "He's not making rational decisions."
Green also said that throughout the case's long history, judges have expressed concerns about Corcoran's desire to be put to death. In 2005, when the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed Gull's finding that Corcoran was competent, then-Justice Robert Rucker wrote in a dissenting opinion that Corcoran is seriously mentally ill.
"And how does his mental illness manifest itself? Corcoran is under the paranoid delusion that prison guards are torturing him with sound waves. As a result, Corcoran wants the State to execute him in order to end the pain. I am not willing to accommodate him," Rucker wrote.
That same year, Corcoran wrote an affidavit saying he'd made up these delusions of torture, and he'd lied to his psychiatrists to get sleep medication.
"The truth is no mental illness or delusions or hallucinations are influencing my decision to waive my appeals," Corcoran wrote. "The fact is I am guilty of murder and I think that I should therefore be executed."
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court received an affidavit from Corcoran in which he asked the court to deny his own attorneys' motions to halt his execution.
"I, Joseph Edward Corcoran, do not wish to litigate my case further. I am guilty of the crime I was convicted of, and accept the findings of all the appellate courts," Corcoran wrote. "The long drawn out appeal history has addressed all the issues I wished to appeal, such as the issue of competency."
Indiana has not executed an inmate since 2009. The state paused executions because of a lawsuit and other complications that prevented officials from obtaining the mixture of drugs used in its lethal injection protocol. In June, Holcomb and Attorney General Todd Rokita announced they are seeking to resume executions after prison officials acquired the drug pentobarbital to carry out death sentences.
State: Corcoran is mentally ill — but he's not delusional or incompetent
The Indiana Attorney General's Office have pointed to Corcoran's own statements in which he said he deserves the death penalty for his crimes, and his claims of being tortured through an ultrasound machine were made up.
"Counsel's bare allegations that Corcoran is incompetent to be executed are unsupported by contemporary evidence that he presently lacks understanding of either his sentence or its purpose," Deputy Attorney General Tyler Banks argued in court filings. "Instead, their allegations rest almost exclusively on a delusion that Corcoran himself has admitted he completely fabricated."
In June 2024, an Indiana Department of Correction doctor wrote that Corcoran denied "hearing or seeing things that are not there." The doctor, whom Banks cites in court filings, said Corcoran is "oriented to person, place, time and situation" and his "speech is linear, goal-oriented and future oriented."
That Corcoran has mental health problems was never in dispute, Banks wrote, but the state disagrees that his illnesses were so severe that they'd escalated to delusions.
"No contemporaneous evidence proves that some mental illness has severed Corcoran's ability to rationally understand the relationship between his murder of four people and his sentence," Banks wrote.
What's clear from the case's long history, Banks argued, is that Corcoran wants to be executed, and he fully understands why he should die.
During a post-conviction proceeding in 2003, Corcoran said: "I am guilty of murder. I should be executed. That is all there is to it."
Green, one of Corcoran's attorneys, acknowledged his expressed desire for execution. But she said these statements reflect Corcoran's history of masking his mental illness and his belief that death would allow him to escape a lifetime in prison and the torture he believes was being inflicted upon him.
"The very nature of delusion is you don't think it's a delusion," Green said. "If I believe something that's not true, I'm not crazy. I believe it."
Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at kphillips@indystar.com.